The World’s Work 


WALTER H. PAGE, EpitTor 


CONTENTS FOR JUNE,; 1907 


THE POWER TRANSFORMING SOUTHERN INDUSTRY Frontis piece 
PHeeARISEN. SOUTH - 3 2 = = é A PICTORIAL INTERPRETATION 

THE ERA OF BIG-CITY BUILDING 

THE COMMERCE OF THE GREAT VALLEY 

THE HEALTH OF THE LOWER SOUTH 

OUR FOREST WEALTH 

THE SIBLEY COTTON MILLS AT AUGUSTA, GA. 

ONE OF THE IRON FURNACES AT BIRMINGHAM, ALA. 


A VIEW OF MEMPHIS, TENN. 
A BIRDS’-EYE VIEW OF THE JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION 


THE JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION (Illustrated) - - CHARLES F. STANSBURY 
NATURE’S GIFTS TO THE SOUTH (Illustrated) - HERBERT A. SMITH 
Mere Otis VAST RESERVES, - - - - D.* A. TOMPKINS 
THE RAILROAD’S WORK IN THE SOUTH - W. W. FINLEY 
2a RAILROAD ENTERPRISES OF THE SOUTH -- anes M. Krys 
PVMINMIGRATION TO THE SOUTH -- - - -' - - = - 
ite PLAND SOUTH (lllustrated) - - ,=: = = CLARENCE H. POE 
iabeoeU GH S INTELLECTUAL EXPRESSION:«= —-"~ - - Epwin Mims 
THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARIES -_*- - .-  - Louis R./Witson 
Mea GHING  MARMERS TO FARM® -- - =" = 

THE COTTON MILLS AND THE PEOPLE (Illustrated) ARTHUR W. PAGE 


THE LOWER SOUTH (illustrated) .- - = - -- - WALTER HeePacE 


TERMS: $3.00 a year; single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyright, 1907, by Doubleday, Page & Company 
All rights reserved. Entered at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., as second-class mail matter. 


Country Life in America Farming The Garden Magazine 
NEW YORK 


1515 eerie Building DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY, 433 East Sixteenth Street 


“eTy ‘Arotmo3}uoyy 0} WyS1] sorpddns yorym [ez oy} sMoys ydersojoyd 
SIU], ‘WotuA oy) jo are IepIUIs Aue IOAO aSeJURApe JuLJOduN Ue UOT aTOYM sIy} ButAT3 ‘Aamod pue zYSI] Jo ddINOs aI[qIss9I9B sour ‘SoUT[ UOISSTWSURI} 99URzSIP 
BuO] &q ‘pue ysodvayo ay}—12mod-asi0y Ssnonut}Uod Coo‘ooo‘€ UPY} VIOW DALY ‘po}eUIT}SO AjaAtyeAIasuoo usveq sey }t ‘uoisat ueryporeddy oy} WOlf SWICII}S IU, 


AULSAGNI NYAHLNAOS DNINAOASNVUL SI LVHL AAMOd AHL 


fae chOWLR OF THE LIBRARIES 


THE CIRCULATION OF BOOKS IN SOUTHERN CITIES, TOWNS, AND SCHOOLS 


BY 


LOUIS R. 


EN years ago, in a magazine descriptive 

of the general growth of the Southern 
States, a statement of the develop- 

ment of the library as an institution which 


largely affected the life of the South would 
Then there was — 


scarcely have found a place. 
no clearly defined, well-organized library move- 
ment. ‘The free public library, the finest pro- 
duct of all library development, was scarcely 
known. 

But the modern library—rural, public, col- 
lege, and traveling—has, since 1896, firmly 
established itself as an institution making for 
saner life and broader culture. 

Possibly the most notable step taken has been 
the establishment of the rural school library. 
In North Carolina, when the educational 
qualification for suffrage was enacted, some- 
thing very definite in the way of greater educa- 
tional facilities for all the people had to be 
provided. The legislature of 1901 equipped, 
with the aid of funds raised by the school 
districts and counties, at. least six rural 
school libraries in each of the ninety-seven 
counties. By means of further appropriations 
in 1903 and 1905, the number of libraries in 
each county was increased from six to eighteen, 


~ and on June 30th, 1906, 1,400 of these libraries, 


containing a total of 125,000 volumes, were in 
operation in the state. 

In Virginia, the same idea has been carried 
out by a system of traveling school libraries, 


_ which has been operative since October, 1906, 


F 
[| 


and 2,625 volumes have been put in immediate 
circulation. Libraries containing fifty volumes 


each are made up from it and sent out daily 


to the rural school stations throughout the state. 
Every station is allowed to keep its collection for 
four or six months, and then to send it back to 
the state library to receive a new collection. 

At the close of December, 1906, twenty 


__ thoroughly equipped Carnegie libraries, repre- 
_ Senting $537,000 in buildings, were in operation 


Since 1897, Durham, Raleigh, 


Texas. 


» 


a 


™“~ 


\e 


Greensboro, Asheville, 


WILSON 


Charlotte, and other 
North Carolina towns, a score or more in all, 
have established public libraries, and during 
the year 1906 the five towns just named re- 
corded loans totaling 200,000 volumes among 
25,000 borrowers. In 1905-6, Virginia and 
Arkansas each established its first three public 
libraries. Within the past six months, Atlanta 
has received $30,000 for two additional branch 
libraries, Louisville $200,000 for eight similar 
branch stations, and the New Orleans library 
is just finishing its $200,000 quarters. 

The most significant fact growing out of the 
activities of these public libraries, however, is 
not that they have been placed on a sound 
financial basis and are recording a splendid 
total of loans, but rather that they have tended 
to reproduce themselves in other communities. 
In Charlotte, Atlanta, Austin, Louisville, Chat- 
tanooga, Nashville—in fact, in all the larger 
towns—the public library has been a fertile 
centre from which decidedly active influences 
have spread. In each of these libraries, a 
system of apprenticeship and general library 
instruction has been maintained which has 
quickened individual growth, and a publicity 
bureau has been operated which has helped to 
form and crystallize a fine, ‘general library 
sentiment. 

Southern college libraries have also under- 
gone a complete revolution in spirit, although 
their growth has not been so apparent as that 
of the school and public libraries. While 
they have not served the public directly, they 
have served it none the less effectively by 
impressing the student with the true import- 
ance of the library as an institution. Quietly, 
but at the same time enthusiastically, they 
have worked their way up to a place of dignity 
and power in college life. Ten years ago, 
the library was useful to the student of literat- 
ure primarily, and not to the college as a whole; 
but, since it has come to be more and more a 
perfectly equipped laboratory, and since the 


8986 


librarian is no longer a mere curator of books 
but a well-trained, professional man, the 
library has been recognized as an active force 
in college life. 

Their growth, however, has not been entirely 
intensive. Since 1895, the University of Vir- 
ginia has erected a $60,000 library building and 
has added 50,000 volumes to the 12,000 saved 
from the disastrous fire which destroyed its 
former library. In North Carolina, Trinity 
College has received a splendid $50,000 build- 
ing since 1899 and has increased its book col- 
lection from 11,000 to 37,000 volumes. In 
September of the present year, the University 
of North Carolina will house its present col- 
lection of 45,000 volumes in a new, fire-proof 
structure and will enjoy, in addition to its 
present library revenues, the income from a 
new $55,coo endowment fund for books. At 
the Universities of Georgia and Louisiana, 
$50,000 library buildings have been occupied 
in the last four years and material additions 
have been made to the original collections. 
South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Ala- 
bama have each added one or more college 
library buildings since 1905; and since January 
of the present year, Florida has received a 
gift of $40,000 for library purposes at Stetson 
University. 


BOOKS FOR RURAL DISTRICTS 


The traveling library, too, has firmly estab- 
lished itself in the South and has met with 
immediate success. Its general adoption in 
rural and sparsely settled communities is cer- 
tain, being conditioned solely upon a proper 
provision by the states for its care and direc- 
tion. Georgia inaugurated the movement in 
1898, By 1905 twenty-three schools had been 
added to the traveling list; ninety-seven schools 
and forty-six rural communities had received 
circulating collections; 4,174 magazines and 
periodicals had been sent out; and since 1808, 
800 schools have been influenced to make 
permanent improvements upon their school- 
houses or grounds; 400 have established libra- 
ries of their own; forty-six rural communities 
have founded village improvement societies, and 
a total of 5,468 books have been kept in constant 
circulation, In North Carolina and Texas, 
the movement has found strong support in the 
Federation of Women’s Clubs. In Virginia 
the traveling libraries have been placed under 
direct..state control. A fund of $7,500 was 
appropriated, d. for, their, maintenance for two 


THE GROWTH OF THE LIBRARIES 


years. Free transportation was received from. 
the railroads; and thus the small Virginia 
village, which hitherto has contented itself 
with its general store, post-office, school, and 
church, has been brought under the broaden- 
ing, vitalizing influence of the open book. 
The most conclusive proof of library devel- 
opment is the state library association. In 
seven of the Southern States, such an organiza- 
tion—composed of librarians, trustees, educa- 
tors, members of social clubs, and cthers—has 
been formed. Witha membership of 1,000, these 
associations have given serious consideration 
to various library problems and have worked 
toward one common end—the popularization 


of the library movement and the creation of a 


public sentiment sufficiently strong to insure 
every community some form of library 
facilities. The state library commissions 
of Maryland, Virginia, ‘Tennessee, and Georgia 
have grown out of the state associations and 
have placed all forms of public library activity 
upon a permanent basis. In North Carolina, 
Alabama, and Texas, the state associations 
have not yet succeeded in securing definite 
legislation, but the need has been clearly 
shown and the demand, sooner or later, will 
be met. 

In Georgia and Texas, library progress of 
all kinds has been longer lived and the results 
are more satisfying. In South Carolina, Miss- 
issippi, and Florida, growth has been less 
evident. But everywhere throughout the South 
undisputed progress has been made. ‘Three 
facts in this connection are significant. The 
first is that the American Library Association 
held its annual meeting this year in Asheville. — 
A development of sufficient magnitude in the 
South brought this deliberative body to the — 
Southern field for the discussion of special 
problems of the Southern libraries. 

The second is that, at its last annual meeting, — 
the Southern Educational Association created — 
a permanent department of libraries, thereby — 
insuring the library due consideration in the — 
educational work of the South. . 

The third, and the most significant, is that — 
there is now in Atlanta a highly developed, — 
well-attended library training school. This 
marks the passing of the untrained librarian — 
in the South. 

In the last ten years, the Southern ibang 7 
has made a long stride forward. It has been 
making for a broader culture and for a larger 


view of life. Its success is assured. 
ff 


et 


7 


o 
P 
ye 
ie”, 
y 


